Hunting and Gathering (film)
| Hunting and Gathering (Ensemble, c'est tout) |
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Promotional film poster
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| Directed by | Claude Berri |
| Produced by | Claude Berri |
| Screenplay by | Claude Berri |
| Based on |
Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda |
| Starring |
Audrey Tautou Guillaume Canet Françoise Bertin Alain Sachs Firmine Richard |
| Music by | Frédéric Botton |
| Cinematography | Agnès Godard |
| Edited by | François Gédigier |
| Distributed by | Pathé |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Budget | $12.2 million |
| Box office | $45.8 million |
Hunting and Gathering (French: Ensemble, c'est tout) is a 2007 French romantic film based on the writer Anna Gavalda's 2004 novel Hunting and Gathering (French: Ensemble, c'est tout). It was directed by Claude Berri, who also wrote the screenplay, and stars Audrey Tautou, Guillaume Canet, , Françoise Bertin and Alain Sachs. It premiered on 21 March 2007.
The film opens showing the day-to-day life of an elderly lady named Paulette. Paulette lives alone, dedicated to her animals, in particular her cats, and her garden. Her worst fear is of dying far from her home and garden. However, when she takes a fall she is sent to hospital who then advise that she recovers in a nursing-home, much to her dismay.
Meanwhile, Camille, an artist and cleaning lady, lives a lonely and anorexic life in a small attic in Paris. One day she meets the shy postcard salesman Philibert, who is in temporary custody of a grand apartment in her building. This belonged to his recently deceased aristocratic forebear, and is filled with heirlooms. Philibert has arranged his life to have as little contact with the outer world as possible. Instead he lets his lodger, Franck - who works as a low-ranked cook in a big restaurant - take care of his shopping and other such things. Philibert and Franck are complete opposites; Philibert is a gentleman, with classical interests and preoccupations, who stutters when anxious. Franck is constantly busy; brash, gruff, confrontational and confident. He works long hours at the restaurant, and habitually spends his only day off going to visit his grandmother Paulette, who raised him.
Camille reaches out to Philibert on impulse, inviting him to 'picnic' in her attic. They hit it off, but in apparent denial of her sexual potency, Camille then has her hair cropped, "manière de petit garçon". Philibert's sexual orientation at this time in the movie is also not delineated.
Camille becomes severely bedridden with the flu. Although Philibert has had only the one social contact with her, and having no reason to know how unwell she is, he feels protective towards, and worried about her. He enters her attic despite not getting any reply, finds her in a desperately weakened state, and carries her down to his apartment. When she recovers, he assumes she will stay on. This development is very unwelcome to Franck, who is permanently stressed-out by his work and destresses by drinking, playing angry punk rock, and entertaining women. The only outlet for his humanity is his care and concern towards his grandmother. Many heated arguments pass between Camille and Franck, the latter annoyed at her presence and the former finding him rude and disrepectful. This reaches a crisis when, whilst drunkenly directing an erotic dance by his latest nana, he refuses to turn down the music. Camille storms out and throws his boom-box out of the window. She later rectifies the situation by buying him a replacement stereo. Franck attempts to explain his behaviour, but acknowledges he is difficult, and that he finds her presence an irritant.
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